St. Moses the Black

Saint Moses the Black, also known as Moses the Ethiopian or Moses the Strong, is one of the most striking figures among the Desert Fathers of late antiquity. According to the Apophthegmata Patrum, the collected sayings of the early monastic fathers, he was born in Ethiopia around the year 330. He began his life as a slave in the household of an official who dismissed him after Moses was caught in a theft. Freed from servitude, he eventually rose to lead a band of brigands operating in the Egyptian desert, where raiders and bandits preyed on travelers and villagers alike.

Moses's conversion came through an unlikely chain of events. Fleeing from authorities after one of his raids, he took shelter in a desert monastery, where the monks' discipline and prayer struck him deeply. Rather than simply resting there, he was moved to repent of his violent life. The desert monastic tradition of the fourth and fifth centuries, centered in places like Scetis in the Wadi Natrun, had no shortage of rough men seeking God, but Moses's transformation was notable even by those standards. He was baptized, received into the monastic community, and began his life of penance and asceticism.

Moses progressed rapidly in the spiritual life and was eventually ordained a priest. He was known for his gentleness and his unusual ability to bear insults patiently, sometimes reportedly inviting visiting monks to strike him, both as a discipline for himself and as a lesson in humility for them. The fame of his holiness drew as many as seventy-five disciples, many of them former outlaws like himself, who lived as a kind of monastic brotherhood under his guidance.

Among the many stories preserved about him, one of the most famous concerns four thieves who broke into his cell to rob him. Moses overpowered all of them, then dragged them to the chapel so they could hear the monks at prayer, an incident that reportedly led at least some of the robbers to give up their life of crime. His teaching on nonviolence and inner repentance is captured in sayings such as, "Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything," and "If a man sees his own sins, he cannot see the sins of his neighbor."

Moses met a violent end around 405, when Berber raiders attacked the monastery at Scetis. According to tradition, he and seven companions were martyred rather than flee. Because of his Ethiopian origin, he is venerated as a model of universal call to holiness and is often invoked as a patron of Africa, of nonviolence, and of those seeking a deep spiritual conversion. His feast day is celebrated on August 28 in the Roman Catholic calendar, and he is also honored on September 7 in some Eastern traditions.